[Pigging by Wilfrid: November 19, 2010]
No, I hadn't been. I've walked past a thousand times, and I've nothing against savory buns, it was never the right moment for a snack. Until recently.
Actually, it was Sifton's recent takedown of chef Eddie Huang's new joint, Xiao Ye, which put it back on my itinerary.
This Huang is not the fool he occasionally pretends to be, I decided, and next time I walked past Baohaus with an appetite, I ducked down the stairs.
The lunch menu offers various combo opportunities, which panned out as a couple of meat buns and a couple of tofu buns. The Haus bao and the Chairman bao - hanger steak and pork belly respectively - were thick, juicy, and a little too sugary for my palate. Taiwanese red sugar, apparently, I suspect well rubbed into the meat. With the crushed peanuts and sweetish dough - and notwithstanding the very fresh cilantro - the food was pushed in a bit of a dessert direction. Rich. I couldn't have eaten more than two of these.
The tofu erred in the other direction - very plain, despite the peanuts. The potato starch coating didn't add much crispness either. Not something I'd order again (and I am a believer in good tofu dishes).
The "fries" didn't like being photographed. As everyone now knows, these are bits of bun fried crisp. The sauce selected was black sesame. First bite - oh, interesting. Fifth or sixth bite - mm, I've had enough.
This all sounds quite downbeat, but it's not meant too. The overall shading of the food is a little sweet for me personally. But plenty of people have found this (reasonably priced) place, and love it to bits.
Eddie's blog shares the restaurant's website.
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